Tokyo Crisis
Memories of Flame: Tokyo Crisis is the tenth Lupin TV Special. It originally aired on July 24th, 1998 on NTV in Japan and was directed by Toshiya Shinohara. Synopsis In this outing, Lupin and Co. find themselves battling corporate bigwheel: Michael Suzuki. As Lupin tries to steal a set of rare photographic plates from Suzuki, an upstart journalist named Maria has begun to tackle her new assignment, which happens to be documenting none other than Zenigata himself. As the opening of Suzuki's new water park approaches, the gang soon finds out that Maria and Suzuki have a sinister history with one another. Plot Monday, July 27. Inspector Zenigata is assigned to deliver a case filled with a set of valuble photographic plates to Tokyo. The two plates are called Tatsumi and Inui. The plates are the property of the multimillion aire Michael Suzuki who is about to open a water park in Tokyo. Lupin appears and attempts to steal the plates. Zenigata, accompanied by a large horde of officers chase the thief through the airport. Lupin manages to alude capture, but fails to get the plates. Tuesday, July 28. Lupin returns to his apartment in Tokyo. He calls for Jigen 's help in stealing the plates from Suzuki, telling him that they are the key to the Tokugawa family fortune which would be worth trillions. Jigen however, declines the job, saying that he has a bad toothache. Jigen asks Lupin if he knows where Goemon is, but Lupin says that he can not get in contact with either Goemon or Fujiko. Meanwhile, Zenigata has successfully delivered Inui to a museum in Tokyo. Outside the museum Zenigata runs into Maria, a young reporter who he has promised an interview. As the walk back to police headquarters, Lupin is digging through Zenigata's desk. He discovers a map with information on where Tatsumi will be sent, but as he is leaving the office, he runs into Zenigata and Maria. Zenigata tries to catch Lupin. Suddenly an image of Zenigata tripping appears in Maria's head and the reporters calls out for him to stop. Just as Maria predicts, Zenigata trips on a bag of marbles Lupin has scattered over the ground. Zenigata attempts to handcuff Lupin, but gets Maria instead. The inspector chases Lupin into the subway station, with Maria following close behind, yelling at Zenigata to remove the handcuffs. In the subway station, Maria has another vision of Zenigata getting shoved into the train door. Sure enough, moments later her vision is proven true. Zenigata is tossed off the train and Lupin escapes. Later, Maria is seen in her office the Tokyo File. It is revealed that her boss is Fujiko Mine. Fujiko tells Maria that Zenigata is to one of the guards at the opening of Aquapolis, the amusement park funded and owner by Suzuki that is set to open in just 3 days. At home, Maria is thinking about her past and her father when she has another vision of Zenigata falling off the edge of the highway. That night, Zenigata is preparing to send the second of the plates to another city. He is again interrupted by Lupin who is making a second attempt at taking the plates. However the truck carrying the plate is accompanied by four other trucks driven by men hand-picked by Suzuki. Zenigata gets out of his truck and attempts to capture Lupin. He makes his way to Lupin's vehicle, only to discover that the thief has abandoned the truck and switch to a small car. Zenigata falls off the top of the truck and falls. Maria drives up to him in her car and catches him just in time. The trucks make an aggressive attempt to force Lupin off the road. They eventually succeed, sending Lupin crashing into the dentist office where Jigen is getting his cavity treated. Jigen escapes with Lupin and the two make their way back to the highway. Jigen takes the wheel and Lupin makes his way over to the truck contain the plate. One of Suzuki's bodyguards is inside the truck and attacks Lupin. At the same time, a helicopter flies over the truck. Goemon leaps out of the helicopter, lands on the truck and makes off with the case containing the plates. Lupin is surprised to see the samurai and seeing that Goemon has already escaped with the plates, retreats with Jigen. Zenigata attempts to follow them, but is asked to pull over by the police. Back at headquarters, the commissioners tells Zenigata that the mayhem caused by the incident would reflect badly on the department. He then suspends the inspector, taking his badge, cuffs and gun. Lupin and Jigen meet Fujiko and Goemon at a bar. Fujiko reveals that she was the one piloting the helicopter and offers Lupin a chance to team up with her to get the treasure. Lupin is reluctant, but finally agrees to split the treasure 80-20 (with Fujiko getting 80). Jigen asks Goemon why he chose to work with Fujiko and asks him if he was seduced. Goemon shouts that, that would never happen and admits to Jigen that his Zantetsuken was stolen. Meanwhile, Zenigata is at a street side bar with Maria. He drinks heavily as he usually does when upset. He tells Maria that the truck drivers were all Suzuki's men and that he had never ordered them to be so aggressive or to force Lupin off the road which is what led to most the chaos. He tell Maria that he suspects Suzuki is hiding something. After a while, Zenigata passes out drunk and Maria carries him back to his apartment. Wednesday, July 29 The next night Zenigata does a steakout outside Suzuki's company's building. Maria joins him and the two wait outside the building, talking. Suddenly, Zenigata spots Fujiko talking to Mr. Suzuki and rushing inside, followed by Maria. However, by the time they have entered the building, Fujiko and Suzuki have already gone upstairs to Suzuki's suite. Zenigata can't enter the building without his police badge so he is forced to wait in the lobby. Lupin has already infiltrated Suzuki's suite and searches for the Inui plate. However, Fujiko and Suzuki arrive and he is forced to hide. Fujiko goes to the bathroom to take a shower and tried to buy Lupin time to escape, but ends up getting both of them caught. Suzuki reveals that the plate Goemon stole was a fake. Elsewhere, Goemon and Jigen break into a warehouse to find Goemon's Zantetsuken. They end up failing however because neither of them are able to defend themselves, Jigen because of his toothache and Goemon because he is completely unarmed. Suzuki's men take Fujiko and Lupin into the elevator and plan to gas them, but Lupin has come prepared with gas masks. Maria, once again seeing an imagine in her mind, leads Zenigata to the elevator, just in time to see Lupin and Fujiko being tossed out of the elevator by Suzuki's men. Suzuki's men draw their guns and begin shooting at the group. The escape and split up. Maria wanders through the building, seemingly at random and comes across a door. Believing it has something to do with her past, she tries to get in. Zenigata opens the door and the two find themselves in a laboratory. Lupin appears that gives them disguises. He tells them that Suzuki as been experimenting with genetic engineering. Maria reveals that he father studied genetic engineering as well. Suzuki see the group through the security cameras and sends his men to kill them, he recognizes Maria and tells his guards to catch her alive. They manage to escape the building, but are immediately arrested once they get outside. Thursday, July 30 Maria, however is quickly released and upon returning to her apartment, is kidnapped by one of Suzuki's men. Zenigata and Lupin manage to escape jail, Lupin stating that it was strange that Maria was let out so early. Fearing she might be in danger, Zenigata heads to her apartment to find that it has been set on fire. Suzuki reveals to Maria that he and her father had worked together on an experiment. Suzuki wanted to use their findings to create super soldiers and killed Maria's father when he interfered with his plan. Suzuki explains that Maria's intuision comes from a very unique DNA. He tells her he plans to use her egg cells to create his super soldiers that he will gain profit out of by selling them to foreign countries. Friday, July 31 The next night, many VIP guests arrive at Suzuki's building for the opening of Aquapolis. The party is crashed by a group of men in black. They take Suzuki hostage and demand a getaway jet and a large sum of money from the government. They escape and it is revealed that the men all work for Suzuki. Zenigata catching wind of this, uses a motorcycle to catch up with the jet before it takes off. He handcuffs the wheel of the plane and manages to board. On board the jet, Zenigata tries to take on Suzuki's men. He is outmatched by the biggest of his bodyguards and pinned to the wall. Just then the plane tilts and turns around. Zenigata takes advantage of the moment to gain an upper hand. Suzuki goes to the pilot to see why they turned around. The pilot is actually Lupin in disguise. Lupin hands a bomb to Suzuki. The bomb does not kill the millionaire, but does destroy most of the controls so that the plane couldn't be turned around. Meanwhile, Jigen and Goemon are making a second attempt to retrieve the Zantetsuken. Jigen is punched by one of Suzuki's men and his cavity ridden tooth falls out. At the same time, Goemon finds his Zantetsuken. With their problems solved, and prized possessions returned to them, they manage to easily defeat their enemies. Lupin and Zenigata take on Suzuki's men. Suzuki himself seems to have gone slightly insane and attempts to shoot everyone on the plane with a machine gun, nearly killing his own men. Suzuki's bodyguard takes the gun from him. Goemon manages to slice the plane in half from the top of the ferris wheel and most of Suzuki's men fall into the ocean. Suzuki pulls out his handgun and tries to shoot Lupin, but his shot by Jigen and falls into the ocean. Lupin manages to land the plane safely. Sunday, August 2 Suzuki's bodyguard holds a meeting with representatives from several foreign countries. The leaders protest that they can't start without Suzuki. The bodyguard removes his mask and reveals he was Suzuki the entire time and that the Suzuki that was killed was only a clone. The leaders are impressed and began placing orders on his cloning technology. Suddenly Lupin appears and takes, both the plates and the DNA tubes. He pushes the button on the elevator. The doors open and Zenigata followed by dozens of police officers, the commissioner and Maria exit. They moving into arrest Suzuki, allowing Lupin enough distraction to escape. Suzuki asks how they knew that he was the real Suzuki and looks at Maria, hinting that she was the one who had foreseen it. The commission is impressed by Zenigata's dedication and returns his gun, badge and cuffs. Maria grabs the gun and aims it at Suzuki, much to the man's fright. Luckily, it wasn't loaded. Maria smiles at Zenigata and he realizes she had known it wasn't loaded to begin with. Epilogue Lupin begins digging for the Tokugawa fortune. He opens the doors to what he believes is the vault, but turns out to be a door to the police station. Zenigata reveals that there is not treasure to begin with, possibly indicating that the plates were fakes planted by Zenigata all along. They begin another chase and Maria shows up to drive Zenigata. Maria tells Zenigata that he reminds her of her father. Zenigata sighs, hinting that he had romantic affections for the girl, then yells at her to drive faster. Afterwards, Jigen and Goemon are seen in Vegas, playing the slots Fujiko is on a cruise ship and Lupin continues to travel around the world with Zenigata hot on his trail. Maria adopts a dog and a picture of her and Zenigata is seen on her bedside. Cast Japanese *'Lupin III': Kanichi Kurita *'Jigen Daisuke': Kiyoshi Kobayashi *'Mine Fujiko': Eiko Masuyama *'Ishikawa Goemon': Makio Inoue *'Inspector Zenigata': Goro Naya *'Maria': Megumi Hayashibara *'Michael Suzuki': Koichi Yamadera Italian *'Arsenio Lupin III': Roberto Del Giudice *'Daisuke Jigen': Sandro Pellegrini *'Fujiko Mine': Alessandra Korompay *'Goemon Ishikawa': Antonio Palumbo *'Inspector Zenigata': Rodolfo Bianchi (Mediaset TV) / Enzo Consoli (DVD) *'Maria': Gilberta Crispino *'Michael Suzuki': Sergio Di Giulio English *'Arsène Lupin III': Sonny Strait *'Daisuke Jigen': Christopher R. Sabat *'Fujiko Mine': Meredith McCoy *'Goemon Ishikawa': Mike McFarland *'Inspector Zenigata': Phillip Wilburn Gallery Images1.jpg LupinIIITokyoCrisis32.jpg Img 4.jpg Tvsp img 10.jpg Fujiko13.jpg Crisis in tokyo funimation.png|US DVD Cover Trivia *This is one of the few instances where the narrative focuses on Zenigata rather than Lupin. The inspector is the first character introduced and received a much bigger role here than in any of the other specials. *This is also currently the only special in which the one-shot female protagonist does not side with Lupin or Jigen. Category:Television specials